| A．Lisa. | B．Anna. | C．Jenny. |
2 . Marathoning has come a long way since 1896. With no hopes of winning a gold medal or getting one's name carved in sport history books, some may wonder why people run marathons at all. After all, the training requires a major commitment of time energy and sweat, and the races can be extremely tiring. So, why are the races so popular?
The most obvious reasons are the positive health and mental happiness effects. On one hand, while the benefits for weight loss and cardiovascular（心血管的）health are well known, research is continually revealing new upsides, such as cutting years off your "artery（动脉）age". On the other hand, for the psychological motivations, each runner will give you different answers. Eller with communication barriers challenges her life by running marathons to show people that even disabled people can achieve great things. And Kailey Bennet runs with the belief that one of the best way to experience a new city culture is on their marathon day.
However, while every runner has different personal reasons, there are some general trends that attract people to race over long distances. Carys Egan-Wyger at Sweden's Lund University found that aspects of daily life are huge and measurably mirrored in marathon running, such as the tracking of progress, along with the necessity of productivity and efficiency. In her surveys, runners tended to mention three important motivators: freedom, achievement and competition. But less obviously. Egan-Wyger also suggests marathoning can also be a way of gaining social status. Showing you have the ability of a long-distance race means qualities of health, productivity and efficiency to others.
Although marathoning brings many benefits, few people are willing to repeat the challenge than 58-year-old runner Andy Glen who has completed 176 marathons in 42 different countries. "I am often asked whether running a marathon after all this time becomes easier," he says. "The simple answer is no. The last six miles are just as challenging as they were when I ran my first."
1. Why does the author mention "Eller" and "Kailey Bennet" in paragraph 2?| A．To explain a rule. | B．To present a fact. |
| C．To clarify an opinion. | D．To make a prediction. |
| A．Progress is less obvious in Marathoning. |
| B．Marathoning can be measured by a big mirror. |
| C．Marathoning is a reflection of many sides of life. |
| D．Qualities of health is not relevant to their social position. |
| A．Marathoning is always a tough sport. |
| B．Only the last six miles are hard for him. |
| C．It takes a lot of patience to run a marathon. |
| D．Marathoing requires great strength at the start. |
Ball games are a big source of modern amusement. But they're nothing new. For instance, consider a 4,500-year-old ball
So far, researchers
＂We are quite sure they were used in some sort of bat-and-ball game."Patrick Wertmann is an expert at the University of Zurich
As for how this ancient ball-and-stick game
Since we don't have any textural evidence and we don't have any sticks from the same period, we don't really know
